Striker Ashley Barnes doffs his cap to the Clarets after big win away at Brighton

The striker revealed that the squad were well aware that they’d dropped in to the Premier League’s bottom three prior to kick off at the Amex Stadium following Cardiff City’s win at St Mary’s.

Kenneth Zohore netted a 93rd minute winner for the Bluebirds against Southampton after Jack Stephens had equalised just minutes earlier for the home side.

But Barnes scored from the spot against his former club, adding to Chris Wood’s double, to propel Burnley in to 15th in the table, level on points with the Seagulls and Crystal Palace.

“It was a massive win and we needed it,” he said. “We heard before the game that Cardiff had won so we knew it was going to be a massive game that we needed to win.

“The lads had seen it beforehand and informed us so we knew that we had to win. We put a performance in today.

“It just made it an even bigger game and we knew we had to win, otherwise we’d have stayed in the bottom three.”

He added: “It [the character] is massive. It goes through everyone in the squad and that’s what we need. We’re all team players and we’ll all keep going and keep fighting.

“The lads were saying that we’re joint 13th. It’s a huge three points but we need to keep chipping away and picking up points until the end of the season.”

The visitors weathered a storm from Chris Hughton’s side in the first half and, having taken a slender advantage in to the interval, picked the hosts off after the break.

Barnes scored his second penalty in successive games to stretch the lead with 15 minutes to go, taking the kick despite his strike partner being on a hat-trick.

The 29-year-old, who had set up Wood for the opener in the 26th minute, said: “Heats kept us in the game with some fantastic saves, he was phenomenal. You could single out all the lads because they were amazing.

“I should have given it [the penalty] to Woody but I needed to finish it. It’s a good return for me but the main thing is the three points and we got them.

“It’s always nice to score. I had some amazing years here but I had to do my job. It’s just one of those things. We had a job to do and luckily enough we did it.”